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January 2012

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Subject:
From:
"Kenneth J. Wood" <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
TechNet E-Mail Forum <[log in to unmask]>, Kenneth J. Wood
Date:
Wed, 4 Jan 2012 08:44:13 -0500
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Rex,
I once took over a design that had the same issue (QFP slug over signal
vias) and the board
was designed using an expensive tool.

Anyways, I look at issues like this as a way to explain how capitalism
works. (and it does contrary to what some elected officials may say).

Companies that invest in their engineering tools and training for their
employees usually deliver better products
and companies that don't end up not being able to compete against the better
products. Taking the cheap road every time will always
end up hurting you, maybe not immediately but eventually.

If all of my competitors want to use FreeCAD4000 to design boards then I say
go right ahead!
Those shops simply cannot compete on quality with us and I advertise that
fact all day long.
Sure some folks will go for the low price end regardless but this is the joy
of owning a business...you gotta' pound the
pavement every day hocking your wares :)

Heck, I even offer a free PCB tool (not design) that can be used to increase
quality...but also gets my name out there.
That's how it works...

If you are only manufacturing these products, then use the opportunity to
sell the customer a better design tool or design shop or design training or
design review (you get the idea)...always take the opportunity to better
your situation and the product. It's a win-win for both sides.

Ken


-----Original Message-----
From: TechNet [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Rex Waygood
Sent: Thursday, December 22, 2011 7:00 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [TN] PCB Design Rant

A follow on from
QFP centre slug over signal vias

There are some interesting comments in the QFP thread which are to do with
PCB design and they have caused me to pull out my current soap box.

I would like to be a bit extreme and say there should be a tax of a few
thousand pounds or dollars imposed upon those that give away free CAD
packages. The money raised should be provided to vendors who sell real CAD
packages to subsidise PCB layout training in order to allow cost effective
and reliable pcb design, assembly design, rework and design for test to be
taught properly.

Why is it that an electronics engineer will design a circuit and then feel
that he is competent to lay out the circuit using a free CAD package? The
fact that the CAD package was free meant that management were not involved
and the consequences of a PCB being laid out by someone with little or no
knowledge of the pcb industry or even the assembly industry were not
considered.

The list of stupid things we see is very long, it results in pcbs and
assemblies being more expensive to procure, less reliable to manufacture,
difficult to make, impossible to test, slower to get into production and
just downright rubbish. The free CAD package cannot provide intelligent data
means that a reverse engineering process is required to attempt to undo some
of the stupidities we see. Words like DRC and libraries are an unknown for
many using these packages.

Also I'd rather tell a six year old that Fred, their pet turkey, is required
as a sacrifice for thanks giving day than explain to a young circuit
designer with a free CAD package that he is delving into areas that he
should stay out of and that his layout is very bad. That doesn't mean I
don't do it but Fred's demise is easier.

I could go on but mince pies are calling Happy winter solstice Rex




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